It is sweet and bitter. Pasleon (berry) - photo

Nightshade is sweet-bitter - a very common plant. It belongs to the Nightshade family. Its name was given to the semi-shrub due to the taste of berries. If you find them, then they are sweet, but then comes a bitter aftertaste. The plant is, like most nightshade plants, poisonous. But it also has strong healing properties. For a long time people used young stems with leaves for cooking ointments and infusions. These drugs help in the treatment of many diseases.

Description

Nightshade is sweet-bitter - a perennial shrub. It can reach a height of 180 cm. Rhizome is woody, creeping. The stems of the plant are sinuous and long. Young shoots branched and chunky. The trunk in the lower part of the half-shrub is woody and bare.

The leaves of the plant are regular. The form is oblong-ovate. The length of the leaf is from 2.5 to 12 cm, width is up to 1 cm. Two oblong small lobes are distinguishable at the base. Leaves in this part of the plant can have a cordate shape. At the top they are dissected or tripartite. Young leaves have a peculiar unpleasant odor.

The plant has paniculate inflorescences. At the base, forked, located on long peduncles. The flower is bisexual. The shape is correct, the perianth is double. The cup of flowers is saucer-shaped. It is small, five-toothed. Stamens five. Their narrow anthers, fused around the column in the tube, have a conical shape. One pestle. Corolla is schistoseptic. The color of the petals is purple. There are species with a pink or white aureole. The diameter of the flower is 12-18 mm. Corolla is shaggy, five folded folded bend visible. The ovary is formed by the upper.

The flowers of nightshade are sweet-hitter appear in the spring. But the plant blooms throughout the warm period until August. Fruit is a berry. First it has a green color. As the maturation turns yellow, and then acquires a bright red color. This attractive glistening glossy berry grows to a length of 3 cm.

Spread

Nightshade is sweet-bitter throughout the subtropical and temperate zones of Europe. But this plant has made many trips. Now it grows in Asia and North America, where it was brought by settlers from the Old World.

In Russia, this plant is easy to locate throughout the European part of the country. He is not only in the Nizhnevolzhsky region, but also in Eastern and Western Siberia. The nightshade does not grow sweet and bitter in Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus. In Asia it also does not occur.

This plant likes wet and even slightly waterlogged soils. It grows in floodplain meadows. It is found near damp undergrowth of various bushes and in willows. The habitual habitat of this species of nightshade is the shores of lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes. In addition, his favorite place is raw piles of garbage, which are quite a lot in virtually all regions and areas of the central strip of Russia. The plant does not tolerate direct sunlight; it needs a shadow.

Chemical composition of the plant

Nightshade is sweet-bitter - a poisonous plant. For a person, it is extremely dangerous. In its berries, in addition to the usual carotenoids, there are also such steroids as isofukosterol, stigmasterol, sitosterol, brassicasterin, campesterol. These substances are contained in the roots. In addition, they identify and alkaloids. In the ground parts of the plant, stems and leaves, tigonenin is found.

Not less rich in steroids and alkaloids seeds. They also contain phospholipids and higher fatty acids - palmitic, myristic and lauric.

Use of the plant

Nightshade is poisonous. But it also shows useful medicinal properties. In addition, this plant is used in human activity as an insecticide.

Nightshade sweet-sour is known to landscape designers as a decorative half-shrub. It is used to decorate hedges. This is an excellent plant for hiding an unsightly fence or a dilapidated wall of buildings. This species is popular, as the flowering period is long, and after it the garden is decorated with beautiful oval berries. Most nightshade is used for vertical landscaping of a site with a strong soil moistening.

Since ancient times people have known this plant as a remedy against larvae and harmful caterpillars. Prepare the broth from the stems and sprinkle them with shrubs and trees. Leaves containing tannins are used for tanning of skins.

Application in folk medicine

Very few people know what a useful plant is nightshade. Home decoction of young shoots with leaves is an effective remedy for skin diseases. Compresses from it relieve inflammation and itching. This is the best folk remedy for eczema. Inside take infusions for colds, diarrhea. Nightshade cures inflammation of the bladder. Women prepare a decoction of leaves to normalize the menstrual cycle.

This plant - not only wound healing, but also vermifuge. Leaves are used for dropsy, pertussis, hepatitis A. Ointment made on the basis of young shoots is used externally for rheumatism. Poisonous berries in small concentrations are effective even for venereal diseases. A decoction of them is treated with epilepsy and severe migraine attacks. Therapeutic is also a tincture of flowers. It is given to people with pulmonary diseases. Use the essence of young shoots in homeopathy in ARI, hives and seizures.

The plant nightshade is poisonous. It is necessary to apply only under the strict supervision of the doctor. This plant contains several chemicals that can cause serious damage to health. For example, dulcamarin has a similar effect to atropine. There are many cases of poisoning of farm animals. In cows, there is a violation of movement coordination, palpitation and diarrhea.

Collection and storage of leaves and stems of nightshade

Grassy young shoots of stems with leaves must be collected during flowering. Then the collected material is spread on the nets and dried in the shade. In the sun, shoots are not recommended. Herbaceous stems are stored in paper bags or wooden boxes. They need to be kept separate from the rest of the grass. The sweet-sour nightshade (a photo of which you can see in this article) is toxic, so store it in a place inaccessible to children and pets.